Importance of DARE

Data Rescue is the ongoing process of preserving all data at risk of being lost due to deterioration of the medium, and digitizing current and past data into computer compatible form for easy access.

Access to historical data is essential to understand the context of changes in climate and its extremes, and to frame the sensitivity of man-made and natural systems to climate variability and extremes as a guide to future adaptation. However in many countries these historical data are not easily accessible, being locked up in paper records which – worse still – are at risk of loss and damage.  Even when secured, the data remain inherently inaccessible unless they can be digitised or imaged into an accessible climate database.

Most of the paper forms are now at risk of being lost due to rapid deterioration of the medium. It is the purpose of DARE to recognize, rescue, preserve and digitize such weather data. Long time series of the past weather, as generated by DARE activities, are useful for many parts of our society, such as agriculture, coastal defense, water resource management, human health, disaster risk reduction, energy, construction, transport, and insurance.